Now on Twitter

Manage Bollworm First, but Don’t Forget Stink Bugs and Plant Bugs

As predicted, our first bollworm flight into cotton has been early and heavy. While our recommendation still stands to be prepared to use insecticides for bollworm overtop Bt cotton (click here), don’t forget that stink bugs and plant bugs will still need to be managed.

Note that the most effective insecticides for stink bugs are broad spectrum. This can be an advantage or a disadvantage for bollworm depending on when they are sprayed. If they are sprayed before bollworm larvae are present, they can kill natural enemies (which seem abundant this year, perhaps because of the widespread low levels of aphids) and release bollworm into the system. For example, I often use Orthene to flare bollworm levels by spraying before a flight. However, many of these insecticides can boost bollworm control when they are sprayed when bollworm larvae are established. Bidrin, while a great stink bug and plant bug insecticide, will do little to control bollworm.

Plant bugs, while present in relatively low numbers this year, are building in cotton. Nymphs just started to show last week (middle of July) in many fields. Now would be a good time to mix Diamond with a pyrethroid. This combination should provide knock down of the adults and extended control of the immatures. When cotton is blooming, square retention is a less reliable measurement of plant bug activity. Switch out sweep net sampling for drop cloth sampling in blooming cotton. More and relevant information can be found in this 2016 article.

Receive Job Notifications By Email

Recent Contributors

About Extension

NC State Extension is the largest outreach program at NC State University.
Based in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, we reach millions of
North Carolina citizens each year through local centers in the state's 100 counties
and with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Learn More

Social Media Accounts

Let's Stay In Touch email

We have several topic based e-mail newsletters that are sent out periodically when we have new information to share. Want to see which lists are available? Subscribe By Emailchevron_right

About Cotton

Cotton has been important to North Carolina for many years, both in agricultural production and in the textile industry. Cotton acreage reached its height in 1926, when North Carolina producers planted right at 2 million acres. The boll weevil arrived in the state that year and acreage dropped until the weevil was eradicated in the late 70s and early 80s. Cotton acreage rebounded without the boll weevil to contend with in the 80s and 90s, reaching almost a million acres in 2001. Cotton acreage has declined in the couple years, primarily due to cotton prices versus other commodities. North Carolina planted about 450,000 acres in 2013, which places the state third in cotton acreage behind Texas and Georgia. The value of the raw cotton and cottonseed produced in the state is worth about half a billion dollars. This does not include value added through the North Carolina’s textile industry.

NC State University and N.C. A&T State University work in tandem, along with federal, state and local governments, to form a strategic partnership called N.C. Cooperative Extension, which staffs local offices in all 100 counties and with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

NC State University and N.C. A&T State University are collectively committed to positive action to secure equal opportunity and prohibit discrimination and harassment regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, political beliefs, family and marital status, sex, age, veteran status, sexual identity, sexual orientation, genetic information, or disability.